Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Acquires New Position in Advance Auto Parts, Inc. (NYSE:AAP)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Advance Auto Parts, Inc. (NYSE:AAP - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 14,477 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $568,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Goodman Financial Corp raised its position in Advance Auto Parts by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Goodman Financial Corp now owns 313,824 shares of the company's stock valued at $12,305,000 after purchasing an additional 11,329 shares during the last quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors raised its holdings in shares of Advance Auto Parts by 5.3% during the first quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 26,475 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,038,000 after acquiring an additional 1,339 shares in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new stake in Advance Auto Parts in the first quarter worth $1,174,000. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in Advance Auto Parts by 302.5% during the 1st quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,358,764 shares of the company's stock valued at $53,277,000 after purchasing an additional 1,021,181 shares during the period. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its position in Advance Auto Parts by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 20,765 shares of the company's stock valued at $814,000 after purchasing an additional 620 shares during the period. 88.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Jason Hand sold 948 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.52, for a total transaction of $45,996.96. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 9,876 shares of the company's stock, valued at $479,183.52. The trade was a 8.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.35% of the company's stock.

Advance Auto Parts Stock Performance

Shares of AAP traded down $2.12 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $58.31. The stock had a trading volume of 2,155,548 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,592,960. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.49 billion, a PE ratio of -9.93 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 0.49. Advance Auto Parts, Inc. has a 12 month low of $28.89 and a 12 month high of $70.00. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $54.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $44.23.

Advance Auto Parts (NYSE:AAP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 22nd. The company reported ($0.22) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.81) by $0.59. Advance Auto Parts had a negative return on equity of 1.76% and a negative net margin of 3.74%. The business had revenue of $2.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.67 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was down 24.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Advance Auto Parts, Inc. will post -0.46 EPS for the current year.

Advance Auto Parts Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 11th were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 11th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. Advance Auto Parts's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -17.04%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Advance Auto Parts from $33.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Redburn Atlantic upgraded Advance Auto Parts from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $28.00 to $45.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 3rd. DA Davidson increased their target price on Advance Auto Parts from $47.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Advance Auto Parts from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $48.00 to $46.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $35.00 price objective on Advance Auto Parts and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Advance Auto Parts currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $48.53.

Advance Auto Parts Profile

Advance Auto Parts, Inc provides automotive replacement parts, accessories, batteries, and maintenance items for domestic and imported cars, vans, sport utility vehicles, and light and heavy duty trucks. The company offers battery accessories; belts and hoses; brakes and brake pads; chassis and climate control parts; clutches and drive shafts; engines and engine parts; exhaust systems and parts; hub assemblies; ignition components and wires; radiators and cooling parts; starters and alternators; and steering and alignment parts.